A balcony overlooks a sea of monsters
by flec, Jan 18, 2024, 5:27 AM
June 20th, 2027
I visited a nearby beach house to congratulate myself
Because a pat on the back wasn't enough
The water was warm, the sky was grey, my favourite colour.
A pretty boy with a California tan surfed in the distance.
I dreamed about how much I wanted to surf when I was fifteen because I loved the waves and I loved the warmth and I loved the way you could stand and the beach would look so small.
But these are the reasons why I sat at the balcony
Why I chose it as my last place instead
Because I had trouble putting on my graduation dress because it was too small for me because I was too big now than I was when I picked out the pretty dress six months ago at a thrift shop.
Because I was scared there would be sharks in the water ready to swallow the pretty boy instead of me, and I would have to look at him in his eyes because I would be too cowardly to save him, too shy to reach forward and grab his hand.
Because I wanted to go into the water but it would be either too hot or too cold and it would never be warm or cool or both.
Because I wanted to do something I haven't done before and I've swam in the water a million times in my life
Because I was worried six-year-old me had a better time at the beach than me now
Because there are monsters in the sea
Scylla and her sailors
The Sirens and their songs
Cetus and his hate
Calypso and her love
Poseidon and the things he wanted to be, his dreams before he realized that his name was Poseidon
There are no islands nearby but I still see the ending
Because I sit here in the balcony in the dress I've outgrown
Each time they approach, I'll climb a little higher
But I won't need to
Because from here, they all look like the paper dolls I folded at school
The paper dolls that ripped
They all look like they have cuts, scars, and pieces taken out of them
And a paper doll can't really hurt me
Epilogue
Except my graduation papers, except that they're not pretty enough to be called a doll
Annabelle
Author's Note
I visited a nearby beach house to congratulate myself
Because a pat on the back wasn't enough
The water was warm, the sky was grey, my favourite colour.
A pretty boy with a California tan surfed in the distance.
I dreamed about how much I wanted to surf when I was fifteen because I loved the waves and I loved the warmth and I loved the way you could stand and the beach would look so small.
But these are the reasons why I sat at the balcony
Why I chose it as my last place instead
Because I had trouble putting on my graduation dress because it was too small for me because I was too big now than I was when I picked out the pretty dress six months ago at a thrift shop.
Because I was scared there would be sharks in the water ready to swallow the pretty boy instead of me, and I would have to look at him in his eyes because I would be too cowardly to save him, too shy to reach forward and grab his hand.
Because I wanted to go into the water but it would be either too hot or too cold and it would never be warm or cool or both.
Because I wanted to do something I haven't done before and I've swam in the water a million times in my life
Because I was worried six-year-old me had a better time at the beach than me now
Because there are monsters in the sea
Scylla and her sailors
The Sirens and their songs
Cetus and his hate
Calypso and her love
Poseidon and the things he wanted to be, his dreams before he realized that his name was Poseidon
There are no islands nearby but I still see the ending
Because I sit here in the balcony in the dress I've outgrown
Each time they approach, I'll climb a little higher
But I won't need to
Because from here, they all look like the paper dolls I folded at school
The paper dolls that ripped
They all look like they have cuts, scars, and pieces taken out of them
And a paper doll can't really hurt me
Epilogue
Except my graduation papers, except that they're not pretty enough to be called a doll
Annabelle
Author's Note
Hi! i know this was really confusing. this is for crochetlover's writing thing.
basically this story is a mix between a poem, a song, and a short story all at once (i know, that's confusing hahah)
it's basically how i think i'll feel on my graduation day (june 20th, 2027 is actually my exact graduation date if we ignore the possible snow days or other cancellations or things that may happen)--too tired to do anything special (in this case, swimming in the ocean and surfing with the pretty boy), feeling too old (which is why i choose to be in the balcony), but strong at the same time (seeing the monsters as paper dolls rather than something scary)
the greek mythology references are what you should look out for that make sense in the story
all of these monsters or nympths or whatever i mentioned are part of the sea
scylla captures sailors
the sirens lure sailors onto their island with their charming songs and they kill them
cetus was a monster who poseidon slayed to prevent andromeda from dying to it lol
calypso fell in love with odysseus but he chose to leave her
poseidon reference is just something i created because i always thought that the name sounded like "poison" so i thought about how if i had the name, i would feel bad every time someone called me
anyways, thanks for reading! i know it was confusing.
basically this story is a mix between a poem, a song, and a short story all at once (i know, that's confusing hahah)
it's basically how i think i'll feel on my graduation day (june 20th, 2027 is actually my exact graduation date if we ignore the possible snow days or other cancellations or things that may happen)--too tired to do anything special (in this case, swimming in the ocean and surfing with the pretty boy), feeling too old (which is why i choose to be in the balcony), but strong at the same time (seeing the monsters as paper dolls rather than something scary)
the greek mythology references are what you should look out for that make sense in the story
all of these monsters or nympths or whatever i mentioned are part of the sea
scylla captures sailors
the sirens lure sailors onto their island with their charming songs and they kill them
cetus was a monster who poseidon slayed to prevent andromeda from dying to it lol
calypso fell in love with odysseus but he chose to leave her
poseidon reference is just something i created because i always thought that the name sounded like "poison" so i thought about how if i had the name, i would feel bad every time someone called me
anyways, thanks for reading! i know it was confusing.
This post has been edited 4 times. Last edited by flec, Jan 18, 2024, 7:08 AM
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